Methods, Systems and Apparatus for Selectively Distributing Urgent Public Information

ABSTRACT

Embodiments of the invention provide apparatuses, systems and methods for distributing public information. For example, some embodiments of the invention provide methods for determining an appropriate set of addresses to which to distribute an alert. One such exemplary method comprises maintaining a directory of alert gateways. The directory can comprise a plurality of directory entries, and each directory entry can be associated with a particular alert gateway. Each directory entry can also comprise at least one gateway characteristic associated with that alert gateway. In some cases, a gateway characteristic can include information to enable the alert distribution device to determine whether a given alert should be transmitted to the alert gateway.

CROSS REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. application Ser. No.10/377,282, filed Feb. 27, 2003 by Casey et al. and entitled “SYSTEMSAND METHODS FOR DISPLAYING DATA OVER VIDEO” (the “'282 application”),which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. application Ser. No. 10/356,364,filed Jan. 31, 2003 by Phillips et al. and entitled “PACKET NETWORKINTERFACE DEVICE AND SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR ITS USE” (the “'364application”); a continuation-in-part of U.S. application Ser. No.10/356,688, filed Jan. 31, 2003 by Phillips et al. and entitled“SYSTEMS, METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR PROVIDING A PLURALITY OFTELECOMMUNICATIONS SERVICES” (the “'688 application”); acontinuation-in-part of U.S. application Ser. No. 10/356,338, filed Jan.31, 2003 by Phillips et al. and entitled “CONFIGURABLE NETWORK INTERFACEDEVICE AND SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR ITS USE” (the “'338 application”); acontinuation-in-part of U.S. application Ser. No. 10/367,596, filed Feb.14, 2003 by Casey et al. and entitled “SYSTEMS AND METHODS FORDELIVERING A DATA STREAM TO A VIDEO APPLIANCE” (the “'596 application”);and a continuation-in-part of U.S. application Ser. No. 10/367,597,filed Feb. 14, 2003 by Casey et al. and entitled “SYSTEMS AND METHODSFOR PROVIDING APPLICATION SERVICES” (the “'597 application”), of whichthe entire disclosures of all are incorporated herein by reference forall purposes.

This application is also a continuation-in-part of U.S. application Ser.No. 10/377,290, filed Feb. 27, 2003 by Phillips et al. and entitledSYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR FORMING PICTURE-IN-PICTURE SIGNALS” (the “'290application”), the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein byreference for all purposes, which is a continuation-in-part of the '364application, a continuation-in-part of the '688 application, acontinuation in part of the '338 application, a continuation-in-part ofthe '596 application, and a continuation-in-part of the '597application.

This application is also a continuation-in-part of U.S. application Ser.No. 10/377,283 filed Feb. 27, 2003 by Phillips et al. and entitled“SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR MONITORING VISUAL INFORMATION” (the “'283application”), the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein byreference for all purposes, which is a continuation-in-part of the '364application, a continuation-in-part of the '688 application, acontinuation in part of the '338 application, a continuation-in-part ofthe '596 application, and a continuation-in-part of the '597application.

This application is also a continuation-in-part of U.S. application Ser.No. 10/377,584 filed Feb. 27, 2003 by Phillips et al. and entitled“SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR DELIVERING PICTURE-IN-PICTURE SIGNALS ATDIVERSE COMPRESSIONS AND BANDWIDTHS” (the “'584 application”), theentire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference for allpurposes, which is a continuation-in-part of the '364 application, acontinuation-in-part of the '688 application, a continuation in part ofthe '338 application, a continuation-in-part of the '596 application,and a continuation-in-part of the '597 application.

This application is also a continuation-in-part of U.S. application Ser.No. 10/377,281 filed Feb. 27, 2003 by Phillips et al. and entitled“SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR PROVIDING AND DISPLAYING PICTURE-IN-PICTURESIGNALS,” (the “'281 application”), the entire disclosure of which isincorporated herein by reference for all purposes, which is acontinuation-in-part of the '364 application, a continuation-in-part ofthe '688 application, a continuation in part of the '338 application, acontinuation-in-part of the '596 application, and a continuation-in-partof the '597 application.

This application is also a continuation-in-part of U.S. application Ser.No. 10/444,941, filed May 22, 2003 by Phillips et al. and entitled“SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR PROVIDING TELEVISION SIGNALS USING A NETWORKINTERFACE DEVICE,” (the “'941 application”), the entire disclosure ofwhich is incorporated herein by reference for all purposes, which is acontinuation-in-part of the '364 application, a continuation-in-part ofthe '688 application, a continuation in part of the '338 application,and a continuation-in-part of the '597 application.

This application is also a continuation-in-part of U.S. application Ser.No. 10/448,249, filed May 22, 2003 by Phillips et al. and entitled“METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR DELIVERING A COMPUTER DATA STREAM TO A VIDEOAPPLIANCE WITH A NETWORK INTERFACE DEVICE,” (the “'249 application”) theentire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference for allpurposes, which is a continuation-in-part of the '364 application, acontinuation-in-part of the '688 application, a continuation in part ofthe '338 application, a continuation-in-part of the '596 application,and a continuation-in-part of the '597 application.

This application is also a continuation-in-part of U.S. application Ser.No. 10/624,454, filed Jul. 21, 2003 by Casey et al. and entitled“SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR INTEGRATING MICROSERVERS WITH A NETWORKINTERFACE DEVICE,” the entire disclosure of which is incorporated hereinby reference for all purposes, which is a continuation-in-part of the'597 application and a continuation in part of the '941 application.

This application is related to U.S. application Ser. No. ______/______,filed concurrently herewith by Phillips et al. and entitled “METHODS,SYSTEMS AND APPARATUS FOR PROVIDING URGENT PUBLIC INFORMATION,”(attorney docket no. 020366-091000US), the entire disclosure of which isincorporated herein by reference for all purposes.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This application relates generally to the provision of urgent publicinformation, and specifically to methods and systems for distributingurgent public information.

Often, urgent public information is of a critical nature, such that itwould be beneficial to have some reliable means to make reasonably surethat the information reaches the intended audience it should bedisseminated to the interested segment of the population. As well,urgent public information, by its nature, sometimes is time-sensitive,such that it is desirable the information be disseminated to theinterested population as expeditiously as possible.

Existing alert distribution systems generally rely on a blanket methodof distribution, using broadcast media (e.g., television and radiostations) to inform the public of urgent information. Such distributionsystems are overbroad, in that each person watching television orlistening to the radio in a given broadcast area is subjected torepeated broadcast of the information whether or not it even applies toor is of interest to that person. The systems are also underinclusive,however, in that certain people, to whom the alerts may be of vitalinterest, likely will not receive the alert if they are not eitherwatching television or listening to the radio.

There is a need for a new distribution system, therefore, that allowsfor more timely and/or selective distribution of urgent publicinformation to those to whom the information likely would be ofinterest.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention seeks to address certain deficiencies in the priorart. Embodiments of the invention provide apparatuses, systems andmethods for distributing public information. For example, someembodiments of the invention provide methods for determining anappropriate set of addresses to which to distribute an alert. One suchexemplary method comprises maintaining a directory of alert gateways.The directory can comprise a plurality of directory entries, and eachdirectory entry can be associated with a particular alert gateway. Eachdirectory entry can also comprise at least one gateway characteristicassociated with that alert gateway. In some cases, a gatewaycharacteristic can include information to enable the alert distributiondevice to determine whether a given alert should be transmitted to thealert gateway.

In accordance with some embodiments, the method further comprisesmaintaining a distribution address associated with each of the alertgateways. The distribution address for a particular alert gateway can,in some embodiments, provide sufficient identifying information aboutthe alert gateway to allow an alert to be transmitted to the alertgateway. The method can further include associating the at least onegateway characteristic for a particular alert gateway with thedistribution address for that particular alert gateway. In some cases,the method will include receiving an alert. The alert can haveassociated information about the alert, as discussed in detail below.Such information can include, merely by way of example, informationabout the urgency of the alert, the applicable time and/or date for thealert, and the like. In particular embodiments, the information aboutthe alert can include geographic information about a geographic area towhich the alert pertains such that subscribers outside the geographicarea would be relatively unlikely to be interested in receiving thealert.

In some embodiments, the method will include identifying, based on theinformation about the alert, a set of selection criteria for determiningwhich of the plurality of the alert gateways should receive the alertand searching the directory for at least one directory entry comprisinga gateway characteristic corresponding to the determined selectioncriteria. In accordance with certain embodiments, the method can includeidentifying, based on the search, one or more distribution addressesthat should receive the alert. In a particular embodiment, each memberof the set of distribution addresses can be associated with a directoryentry comprising a gateway characteristic that corresponds to thedetermined selection criteria.

In various embodiments, at least one gateway characteristic can includea variety of different types of information. Merely by way of example,in some cases the gateway characteristic can comprise information aboutthe geographic location of the alert gateway, including, for example,the area code in which the gateway is located, the zip code in which thegateway is located, the latitude and/or longitude coordinates of thealert gateway, the Global Positioning System coordinates of the alertgateway, and the like. In other embodiments, the gateway characteristiccan include other information about the gateway and/or one or moresubscribers associated with the gateway. Again, by way of example, thegateway characteristics can include demographic information about asubscriber associated with the alert and/or information about asubscriber's preferences. Such preferences can relate to, inter alia,the types of alerts the subscriber would like receive, where (and/or onwhich devices) the subscriber would like to receive alerts, at whattimes the subscriber would or would not like to receive alerts, and thelike.

In accordance with some embodiments, the directory entry for each alertgateway can include information about a distribution address for thatalert gateway, and maintaining a distribution address associated witheach of the alert gateways can comprise maintaining that informationabout the distribution address in the directory entry. In otherembodiments, the directory of alert gateways can comprise a firstdatabase and, optionally, the distribution address associated with eachof the alert gateways can be maintained in a second database.

In some cases, the alert can comprise urgent public information. Inparticular embodiments, urgent public information can include, merely byway of example, an Emergency Alert System transmission, an Amber Alerttransmission, a severe weather notification, a Homeland SecurityAdvisory notification, and/or the like. In certain implementations,information about the alert can be incorporated within the alert itself.In other cases, the information about the alert can be additional to thealert and, optionally, can be transmitted with the alert in one or morealert message. In some embodiments, the method can further compriseextracting from the alert the information about the alert.

Other embodiments of the invention provide methods for distributing analert to an appropriate set of subscribers. One such exemplary methodcomprises maintaining a database of alert gateways. The database caninclude a plurality of database records and each database record can beassociated with an alert gateway and can comprise location informationabout the geographic location of that alert gateway. The method canfurther comprise maintaining a distribution address associated with thealert gateways, such that the distribution address for an alert gatewaycan provide sufficient identifying information about that alert gatewayto allow an alert to be transmitted to the alert gateway. The at leastone gateway characteristic for a particular gateway can be associatedwith the distribution address for that particular gateway.

The method can further comprise receiving an alert, and the alert cancomprise information about a geographic area to which the alertpertains, such that subscribers outside the geographic area would berelatively unlikely to be interested in receiving the alert. The methodcan also include identifying, based on the information about thegeographic area to which the alert pertains, a set of geographiccriteria for determining which of the plurality of alert gateways shouldreceive the alert. The database then can be searched for at least onedirectory entry comprising location information meeting a set ofgeographic criteria and identifying, based on the search, a set of atleast one distribution addresses that should receive the alert. Eachmember of the set of distribution addresses associated with thedirectory entry comprising location information meeting the set ofgeographic criteria. Optionally, the method can include transmitting thealert to a set of alert gateways wherein each member of the set of alertgateways is associated with a member of the set of distributionaddresses. In some embodiments, at least one of the plurality of alertgateways can be incorporated within a network interface device and/orcan be in communication with a network interface device.

Other embodiments of the invention provide devices for determining anappropriate set of addresses to which to distribute an alert and/or fordistributing an alert to an appropriate set of addresses. Such devicescan be capable of performing methods as described herein and cancomprise, for instance, at least one interface member in communicationwith a communication network. An exemplary device further includes aprocessor in communication with the at least one interface member and astorage medium in communication with the processor.

The storage medium can include instructions executable by the processorto maintain a directory of alert gateways. The directory can comprise aplurality of directory entries, and each directory entry can beassociated with a particular alert gateway and can comprise at least onegateway characteristic. The gateway characteristic can includesufficient information to enable the alert distribution device todetermine whether a given alert should be transmitted to the alertgateway. The storage medium can include further instructions executableby the processor to maintain a distribution address associated with eachof the alert gateways. A distribution address for a particular alertgateway can provide sufficient identifying information about that alertgateway to allow an alert to be transmitted to the alert gateway.

The instructions can also be executable by the processor to associatethe at least one gateway characteristic for a particular alert gatewaywith a distribution address for that particular alert gateway. Theprocessor can be further instructed to receive an alert via the at leastone interface member, and the alert can have associated informationabout the alert. Based on the information about the alert, a set of oneor more selection criteria can be identified for determining which ofthe plurality of alert gateways should be receive the alert, and thedirectory can be searched for at least one directory entry comprising agateway characteristic corresponding to the determined selectioncriteria.

Other instructions can be executable by the processor to identify, basedon the search, a set of one or more distribution addresses that shouldreceive the alert. Each member of the set of distribution addresses maybe associated with a directory entry comprising a gateway characteristicthat corresponds to the determined selection criteria.

Yet further embodiments of the invention provide systems for determiningappropriate types of subscribers to receive alerts and/or fordistributing alerts to those subscribers. Some such systems can performthe methods described above. For instance, one exemplary system includesa plurality of alert gateways configured to receive an alert. Each ofthe plurality of alert gateways can be associated with at least onesubscriber. This system further comprises a network configured toprovide communication with a plurality of alert gateways and an alertdistribution device in communication with the network. Merely by way ofexample, the alert distribution device can be similar to the devicedescribed above and/or can include similar functionality.

Also by way of example, in some embodiments, the communication networkcan comprise a radio frequency transmission, a telephone network, acable television distribution network, the Internet, a fiber opticnetwork, a high speed data network, a wireless network, a microwavenetwork, and/or the like. In particular embodiments, the communicationnetwork can be a plurality of communication networks and the alertdistribution device can be configured to select the most appropriatecommunication network with which to transmit the alert information tothe particular distribution address.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A further understanding of the nature and advantages of the presentinvention may be realized by reference to the figures which aredescribed in remaining portions of the specification. In the figures,like reference numerals are used throughout several to refer to similarcomponents. In some instances, a sub-label consisting of a lower caseletter is associated with a reference numeral to denote one of multiplesimilar components. When reference is made to a reference numeralwithout specification to an existing sub-label, it is intended to referto all such multiple similar components.

FIG. 1A illustrates a system that can be used to provide publicinformation to a plurality of subscribers, in accordance with variousembodiments of the invention.

FIGS. 1B and 1C illustrate alert gateways in communication with aplurality of subscriber devices, in accordance with various embodimentsof the invention.

FIGS. 2A and 2B illustrate a network interface device, which canfunction as an alert gateway, in accordance with various embodiments ofthe invention.

FIG. 3 illustrates schematically certain components of a networkinterface devices, in accordance with various embodiments of theinvention.

FIG. 4 illustrates an exemplary network interface than can be disposedpartially on the exterior of a subscriber premises, in accordance withvarious embodiments of the invention.

FIGS. 5A and 5B are process flow diagrams illustrating a method ofdistributing public information in accordance with embodiments of theinvention.

FIG. 6 is a process flow diagram illustrating a method of determining aset of distribution addresses to which public information should bedistributed, in accordance with embodiments of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Various detailed embodiments of the present invention are disclosedherein; it should be understood, however, that the disclosed embodimentsare merely exemplary of the invention, which may be embodied in variousforms. Therefore, specific structural and functional details disclosedherein should not be interpreted as limiting, but merely as arepresentative basis for teaching one skilled in the art variously toemploy the present invention in virtually any appropriately detailedstructure.

Embodiments of the invention provide, among other things, systems andmethods for distributing urgent public information. Urgent publicinformation, as the term is used herein, should be understood to meaninformation that is of relatively immediate interest to at least somesegment of the general population. Examples of urgent public informationtherefore can include, inter alia, alerts promulgated by and/or inaccordance with the Emergency Alert System, Amber Alerts and HomelandSecurity Advisories. Further examples can include weather information,for instance alerts from the National Weather Service, trafficinformation, and the like.

The term “alert” is sometimes used herein to denote information (e.g.,urgent public information) that can be distributed according toembodiments of the invention. An alert can comprise textual information,audible information (including, e.g., speech, alert tones and the like),visual information (including, e.g., maps, photos, video signals and thelike), and any other data or signals useful to convey urgent publicinformation to a subscriber. An alert can be thought of as part of an“alert message,” which can comprise merely the alert itself and/or caninclude additional data, including for example alert information. Theterm “alert information” should be understood to mean informationpertaining to the alert (e.g., metadata) that can be analyzed todetermine whether and/or to whom the alert pertains and/or should bedistributed. Alert information can include, but is not limited to,information about the geographic scope of the alert, when the alert wasissued and/or when the alert expires, the type of alert (e.g., weather,Homeland Security, Amber Alert, etc.), and any other information thatdescribes an alert and/or could be helpful in determining whether analert should be distributed to a particular user. In some cases, alertinformation can be intrinsic to the alert. For example, a weather alertmay be a single plaintext message, that includes, within the text of thealert, the time the alert was issued and/or the time the alert willexpire. In such cases, embodiments of the invention can extract suchalert information from the alert itself, and use the alert informationto, inter alia, determine to which destination address(es) the alertshould be sent.

In other cases, however, alert information can be maintained separatefrom the substance of the alert. Merely by way of example, an alert maybe transmitted as a formatted and/or tagged message (e.g., an XMLmessage, etc.), such that the alert comprises one or more tagged fieldswithin the message, and additional alert information is included in themessage using one or more differently tagged fields. Thus, an alertmessage may include a field specifying an “alert initiation time” thatsignifies when the alert was first issued, as well as an “alertexpiration time” that signifies when the alert will expire, such as inthe case of weather alerts, for example. An alert message can have otherfields of alert information as well, including for example, fieldsrelating to the geographic scope of the alert, etc. Embodiments of theinvention, therefore can parse an alert message.

Certain embodiments of the invention provide systems for distributingurgent public information to applicable subscribers. For ease ofdescription, the term “subscriber” is used to refer to any entity thatis capable of receiving urgent public information, and the term“provider” is used to refer to an entity that distributes urgent publicinformation. In light of the entire disclosure, however, those skilledin the art will appreciate, that the use of these terms should not beinterpreted to limit the scope of the invention to a particularrelationship between a provider and a subscriber. In some cases, aprovider can be the ultimate source of the urgent public information tobe distributed; in other cases, the provider may function to receive analert from another source (which might be a governmental agency such asthe National Weather Service or the like) and distribute thatinformation to subscribers. Likewise, a subscriber may the ultimaterecipient of the alert and/or may also be a provider capable ofdistributing the alert to other subscribers. In particular embodiments,a provider can be a telecommunication service provider, and a subscribercan be a person, business or the like that receives telecommunicationservices from the provider.

FIG. 1A illustrates one exemplary system 100 that can be used todistribute urgent public information. The system 100 includes acommunication network 104, which can be any of several different typesof communication networks. Merely by way of example, the network 104 canbe the Internet. In other embodiments, the network 104 can be atelecommunication provider's network, including for example, anasynchronous transfer mode (“ATM”) network, a time-division multiplexed(“TDM”) network, a wireless network (including, for instance, cellularnetworks, personal communication service (“PCS”) networks, 802.11networks, and the like), and/or a cable television distribution network.In many cases, the network 104 can be a composite of a plurality ofthese (and other) types of networks. In short, the network 104 can beany public or private network capable of transporting alert informationas described herein. In some cases, the network 104 will be capable oftransmitting packeted data, for instance, data formatted according tothe TCP/IP suite of protocols.

The network 104 can be in communication with an alert distributiondevice 108, which, in accordance with some embodiments, functions toreceive alerts and distribute those alerts to appropriate subscribers.In some cases, the alert distribution device 108 can be ageneral-purposed server computer running one (or more) of a variety ofserver operating systems known in the art, including for example,Microsoft™ Windows™ (NT, 2000, XP or the like) or any of the UNIX™ orUNIX™-like operating systems (including Linux™, Solaris™, AIX™ and thelike), as well, perhaps, as specialized software for providing theservices discussed herein. Those skilled in the art will recognize,based on the disclosure herein, that other operating systems may be usedas well, so long as they are capable of supporting the software used toperform the functions hereafter described. Those skilled in the art,therefore, will recognized based on the disclosure herein that he alertdistribution device 108 can one or more processors that can executeinstructions to perform many of the processing functions describedherein. In many cases, the instructions can be software instructionsstored on a storage medium such as those described below. In othercases, the alert distribution device 108 can comprise dedicated hardwarefor distributing urgent public information, such that some (or all) ofthe functionality of the alert distribution device 108 is embodied inhardware or firmware (for instance, any of the varieties of ROM, PROM,EPROM, EEPROM and the like).

In many embodiments, the alert distribution device 108 will include astorage medium 110, which can be used to store both softwareinstructions as well as operating data. Those skilled in the art willrecognize that implementations of the storage medium 110 will vary inaccordance with different embodiments: The medium 110 may be one oremore hard disk drives (including, for instance, a redundant array ofinexpensive disks (“RAID”) system) attached either internally ordirectly externally to the alert distribution device 108, as illustratedin FIG. 1A. In other cases, the storage medium 110 can be part of astorage area network and/or can be remote from the alert distributiondevice 108. The location of the storage medium 110 is immaterial to thescope of the invention, so long as the storage medium 110 can beaccessed by the alert distribution device 108. Similarly, while for easeof description, the storage medium 110 is illustrated as a single deviceon FIG. 1A, the storage medium 110 can in fact be a plurality of storagemedia, situated at the same or different locations.

The storage medium 110 can comprise one or more databases, which can beused to store data and/or configuration settings for the system 100. Inaccordance with some embodiments, one database can be used to store atable of logical address information associated with the subscribers,while another database can be used to store demographic information,including without limitation physical address information, associatedwith the subscribers. Merely by way of example, a first database can beused to store IP address information for each subscriber. The IP addressinformation can be static or dynamic; for instance, in accordance withsome embodiments, as discussed in detail below, each subscriber can beassigned a logical address using a dynamic addressing scheme such as thedynamic host configuration protocol (“DHCP”) known to those skilled inthe art. Further, a second database can comprise information related tothe physical address of the subscriber, such as a ZIP+4 code, streetaddress, telephone number, GPS coordinates, and/or the like. In otherembodiments, the system 100 can store a separate record of a physicalhardware address (e.g., a MAC address, familiar to those skilled in theart) for each subscriber, such that each physical hardware address canbe associated with a geographical location and/or a logical address. Asdescribed below, the system 100 can use these databases to determine,for a given alert message, which logical addresses should receive thealert message.

The alert distribution device 108 can also comprise (and/or be incommunication with) an alert receiver 112, which can receive alerts. Insome cases, as illustrated in FIG. 1A, the alert receiver 112 can be adiscrete device having an independent connection with an alert source114. In other cases, the functionality of the alert receiver 112 can beincorporated within the alert distribution device 108. In either case,the alert receiver 112 can be capable of receiving urgent publicinformation from the alert source 114. In some instances, alert receiver112 can include a wireless antenna capable of receiving RF signals fromthe alert source 114. Those skilled in the art will recognize, forinstance, that the federal Emergency Alert System broadcasts alertsusing a particular radio frequency; the alert receiver 112 can be tunedto receive these and other signals over the airwaves. In other cases,the alert receiver 112 can receive alert information from an alertsource 114 via other transports, including, for example the network 104or another, perhaps similar network. Although for ease of reference,only one alert source 114 is illustrated on FIG. 1A, the alert receiver112 can be configured to receive urgent public information from aplurality of alert sources; in addition, the alert distribution device108 can be in communication with (and/or incorporate) a plurality ofalert receivers for receiving urgent public information from a varietyof alert sources.

The alert source 114 can be any device and/or entity that transmits orotherwise provides urgent public information. As mentioned above, insome cases, the alert source 114 can be affiliated with a federal, stateor local governmental authority and/or other public entity. In othercases, the alert source 114 can be privately owned and/or operated,perhaps on a commercial bases. In some such cases, public informationdistributed from the alert source can be associated with a subscriptionservice, and systems in accordance with embodiments of the invention canaccommodate and/or facilitate a subscription service related to thedistribution of the information from the alert source 114.

The alert distribution device 108 can be in communication with aplurality of alert gateways 116 a, 116 b, 116 c, which can be operableto receive urgent public information from the alert distribution device108, for instance, via the network 104. In this way, the alertdistribution device 108 can function to distribute information (such asdata, video signals, voice signals and the like, including urgent publicinformation) to one or more of the plurality of alert gateways 116 a,116 b, 116 c. The alert distribution device can include one or moreinterfaces for communicating with the alert gateways 116, the alertsource 114 and other devices. Such interfaces can include, for instance,wireless receivers and/or transmitters, network interface cards (such asEthernet cards, fiber optic interfaces, such as FDDI cards), modems, andthe like. In some cases, an interface can provide communication betweenthe alert distribution device 108 and the communication network 104.Thus, such interfaces can serve to receive and/or transmit alertmessages as appropriate.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that, in many cases, there maybe multiple routes, or paths, through the network 104 between the alertdistribution device 108 and the alert gateways 116. Thus, in accordancewith some embodiments, the alert distribution device 108 can beconfigured to select from among multiple such paths. Merely by way ofexample, the alert distribution device 108 can be configured to transmitan alert to a particular alert gateway (e.g., 116 a) via one path(perhaps via a first interface, which is in communication with a firstnetwork) and, if that transmission is unsuccessful, to retransmit thealert to via a second path (perhaps via a second interface, which is incommunication with a second network). In this example, the first andsecond networks might both be data networks connected to a commonnetwork, such as the Internet, which is further in communication withthe alert gateway 116 a. Alternatively, the first and second networksmight be different distribution networks; for example, the first networkcould be a cable distribution network, and the second network can be apublic switched telephone network. Thus, if one of the networks isunavailable, the alert message can still be transmitted via anothernetwork. In other embodiments, the alert distribution device 108 cantransmit via more than two paths.

In addition, in some embodiments, the network 104 can be distributedacross large distances (indeed, in the case of the Internet, forinstance, the network 104 can span the globe), and that the alertdistribution device 108 may be located a significant physical distancefrom the alert receiver 112 and/or the alert source 114. For thatmatter, the alert distribution device can be physically distant (e.g.,in a different locality, state or country) from each of the alertgateways 116, and one alert gateway 116 a can be physically distant fromanother alert gateway 116 b, such that an alert, for example, dealingwith severe weather may be of interest to a subscriber associated withone alert gateway 116 a located in the path of the severe weather butnot a subscriber associated with another alert gateway 116 b locatedelsewhere.

For this reason, among others, the alert distribution device 108 can beconfigured to select, based on the nature the information to bedistributed and/or certain characteristics/preferences of the alertgateways 116 (and/or the subscribers associated with them), which of thealert gateways 116 appropriately should receive that information.Returning to the weather example, the alert distribution device 108 canbe configured to route the severe weather alert only to the alertgateway 116 a located in the path of the severe weather. As illustratedby this example and discussed in further detail below, the location ofan alert gateway can be one characteristic used to determine whether thealert gateway should receive the information. As discussed below,however, many other characteristics may be used to determine whether agiven set of information should be distributed to a particular alertgateway.

As alluded to above, an alert gateway 116 can store the preferences of asubscriber, referred to herein sometimes as “subscriber preferences.”These preferences can be administered through a variety of interfaces,including those described in detail below, and can allow a user toconfigure the behavior of the gateway 116 in response to different typesof alerts, as well as what types of alerts the subscriber would like tobe notified about. In some cases, the alert gateway 116 can uploadcertain of these preferences (including, for instance, the types ofalerts the subscriber would like to receive) to an alert distributiondevice 108. In some embodiments, multiple subscribers can be associatedwith a single alert gateway 116, and the alert gateway 116 can beconfigured to support the preferences of multiple subscribers and/orconfirm reception of a given alert by each associated subscriber thatshould receive that alert. A subscriber can, in some instances, log onto the alert gateway 116 (e.g., using a subscriber identifier and/or apassword) and administer the preferences for that subscriber. In someembodiments, the preferences for multiple subscribers can be maintainedonly at the gateway 116, such that the alert distribution device 108 isonly aware of the gateway and sends all applicable alerts to the gateway116 generally, allowing the gateway to determine the subscribers towhich an alert should be sent, while in other embodiments, the alertdistribution device 108 can be aware of distinct subscribers associatedwith the gateway 116 can send alert messages specifically for aparticular subscriber(s).

In accordance with various embodiments of the invention, alert gatewayscan take several forms. Usually (but not always), they are stationaryand can be affixed to a particular subscriber location, such as a house,apartment, office building or the like; in some cases, however, an alertgateway may not be stationary and can, for instance, be located in anautomobile or the like. In some cases, an alert gateway can even be amobile device, such as a PSC phone, pager or the like. In any event, analert gateway may incorporate location-determining equipment, such as aGPS receiver and/or can be capable of being located throughtriangulation procedures familiar to those skilled in the art. Incertain embodiments, an alert gateway can comprise a demarcation device,including for instance, demarcation devices and/or network interfacedevices (“NID”) such as those described in detail in commonly-owned,copending U.S. application Ser. Nos. 10/448,249, 10/367,597, 10/367,596,10/356,688, and 10/356,338, all previously incorporated by reference.

In addition, devices similar to the demarcation devices and/or NIDsdescribed in the applications previously incorporated by reference andthe following commonly-assigned applications can comprise and/or be usedas (or in conjunction with) alert gateways in accordance with someembodiments of the invention: U.S. patent application Ser. No.10/377,280, filed Feb. 27, 2003 by Phillips et al. and entitled“ADSL/DBS NETWORK INTERFACE DEVICE, METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR USING SAME”;U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/445,275, filed May 23, 2003 by Caseyet al. and entitled “REAL-TIME MEDICAL MONITORING APPLICATION WITH ANETWORK INTERFACE DEVICE”; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/452,996,filed Jun. 2, 2003 by Phillips et al. and entitled “SYSTEMS AND METHODSFOR DISTRIBUTING CONTENT OBJECTS IN A TELECOMMUNICATION SYSTEM”; U.S.patent application Ser. No. 10/611,324, filed Jun. 30, 2003 by Casey etal. and entitled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR COOLING OF A NETWORK INTERFACEDEVICE”; and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/625,863, filed Jul. 22,2003 by Phillips et al. and entitled “PERSONAL COMMUNICATION SERVICENETWORK INTERFACE DEVICE.”

In accordance with certain embodiments of the invention, an alertgateway may be in communication with one or more pieces of subscriberequipment. Subscriber equipment (which can include devices sometimesreferred to as “consumer premises equipment” or “customer premisesequipment”) can include a variety of communications equipment and/orconsumer electronics, including, merely by way of example, telephones(POTS, SIP, VoIP, PBX, PCS, cellular, etc.), video display devices(including televisions, computer monitors, LCD panels, video gameconsoles and the like), set-top boxes, audio equipment, pagers, and thelike, as well as other devices described in detail in the applicationspreviously incorporated by reference.

Turning now to FIG. 1B, a generalized schematic drawing 120 illustratesthe relationship of components of certain embodiments the invention at asubscriber premises 124. An alert gateway 116 can be located at thesubscriber premises 124, and may, in some cases, be affixed to anexterior wall of the subscriber premises 124, enabling the gateway 116to be serviced by provider personnel without disturbing the occupants ofthe subscriber premises 124. In other embodiments, the alert gateway 116may be located entirely within the subscriber location and/or maycomprise two or more physically separate elements, some of which may belocated outside and/or attached to an exterior wall of the subscriberpremises, and some of which may be located within the subscriberpremises, as discussed in further detail infra.

The alert gateway 116 can receive alert information from a variety ofsources, including, merely by way of example, alert distribution devicesdescribed herein, using any appropriate communication medium (not shownin FIG. 1B). In addition, the alert gateway 116 can be coupled to one ormore internal transport media 128 a-c, which can comprise any mediumcapable of transmitting data packets, including without limitation thosemedia described, for instance, in various of the applications previouslyincorporated by reference. Notably, embodiments of the alert gateway 116can support a variety of media topologies, including star (with thealert gateway 116 optionally serving as the hub) and bus configurations,as illustrated by the exemplary configuration of media 128 a-c in FIG.1B. In addition to wired media, the alert gateway 116 can include and/orbe in communication with a wireless transceiver 130, which can allow thealert gateway to communicate with a variety of wireless subscriberequipment through any of a variety of wireless communication protocolsknown in the art, including the IEEE 802.11 series of protocols, theBluetooth™ standard, various cellular and/or PCS communicationprotocols, and other wireless communication methods discussed in furtherdetail in the applications previously incorporated by reference.

Thus, in accordance with embodiments of the invention, the alert gateway116 can communicate with one or more elements of subscriber equipment132 a-f, using any of the transport media (wired and/or wireless)discussed above. In addition, the alert gateway can incorporate and/orcan be in communication an alert notification device 136, through one ormore of the transport media previously described, including inparticular a serial (e.g., RS-232 and/or Universal Serial Bus)connection, an Ethernet connection, an HPNA connection, and the like. Inaccordance with some embodiments, the alert notification device 136 is adedicated piece of hardware that is configured to receive alertinformation from the alert gateway 116 and take some action to notifythe subscriber that an alert has been received. Merely by way ofexample, in certain embodiments, the alert notification device caninclude a visual signal, including without limitation one or more lightemitting diodes, as well as an audible signal, including withoutlimitation, a siren, an alert tone generator, and the like. Thus, whenthe alert gateway 116 transmits alert information to the alertnotification device 136, the alert notification device 136 can displaythe visual signal and/or display the audible signal to notify thesubscriber that an alert has been received.

In a particular exemplary embodiment, the alert notification device is amicroprocessor-based device comprising a display screen (such as an LCDscreen) in communication with the microprocessor, an alert lamp (such asan LED) in communication with the microprocessor, an input device suchas a button, also in communication with the microprocessor. Thisexemplary alert notification device can also include a communicationinterface, such as a serial (e.g., RS-232) interface to provideconnectivity with, for example, an alert gateway. Thus, upon receipt ofan alert from an alert gateway, the microprocessor can instruct the LEDto flash and the LCD to display the text of the message, and asubscriber can press the button to indicate receipt of the alert, atwhich point the alert text will be erased, the LED will go dark, and,optionally, a confirmation message will be sent to the alert gateway. Itshould be appreciated that other embodiments of alert notificationdevices may include enhancements and modifications, including speakers,more detailed display devices, and the like.

As discussed further infra, in accordance with certain embodiments ofthe invention, alert information may be prioritized and/or categorizedaccording to the information included in the alert (e.g., the severityof the condition prompting the alert, the geographic scope of the alert,the subscriber's preferences, and the like). In such embodiments, thealert notification device 136 can be configured to vary the alertnotifications in relation to the nature of the alert. Merely by way ofexample, for relatively low priority alerts, the device 136 merely maydisplay a simple visual signal, such as a flashing LED, while forrelatively more urgent alerts, the device 136 may periodically repeat anaudible alert and/or may display a relatively more intense visual alert(e.g., a brighter or different colored LED, strobing lights, etc.).

In accordance with further embodiments, the alert notification device136 can include capabilities to inform the subscriber of the substanceof the alert, instead of or in addition to merely signaling thesubscriber that an alert has been received. Merely by way of example,some alert notification devices can include a text screen, which canallow the subscribe to view the text of an alert, while others include aspeaker and other circuitry known in the art to allow the notificationdevice 136 to audibly inform the user of the text of the alert. (Asdiscussed below, in accordance with certain embodiments, the alertgateway 116 can process the alert information by, inter alia, convertingspeech to text and/or text to speech; the alert notification device 136can receive and display/play this processed alert information and/or caninclude the necessary hardware and/or software to perform suchconversions as well). In certain implementations, the alert notificationdevice 136 can include a display screen, which can be used to viewvisual alert information (which can include, inter alia, graphics, maps,video information and the like).

As mentioned discussed in further detail below, certain embodiments ofthe invention allow for confirmation that a subscriber has receivedalert information. Hence, the alert notification device 136 optionallycan include a subscriber feedback device, which can be any apparatusthat allows the subscriber to interact with the alert notificationdevice 136. The subscriber feedback device, therefore, can be as simpleas a single button the subscriber can push to indicate that thesubscriber has received the alert; alternatively, the subscriberfeedback device can facilitate relatively more complex feedback, and caninclude a microphone and/or voice recognition facilities, a keyboardand/or pointing device and the like. Thus, certain embodiments can allowfor more than mere confirmation that the subscriber has received thealert: Using the subscriber feedback device, the subscriber can requestmore information about the alert, indicate that he is interested (or notinterested) in future related alerts, and the like. This feedback can betransmitted from the alert notification device 136 to the alert gateway116 and, if necessary transmitted from the alert gateway 116 to an alertdistribution device, which may act upon the feedback by sending moreinformation, changing saved preferences for the subscriber, etc.

Turning now to FIG. 1C, a schematic diagram 140 illustrates therelationship between the alert gateway 116 and various subscriberequipment located within a subscriber premises 124. In the illustratedembodiment, the alert gateway 116 can be coupled to a plurality oftransport media 144 a-I, which can provide communication capabilitybetween the alert gateway 116 and a variety of subscriber equipment(e.g., 148, 152, 156, 160, 164, 168, 172, 176, 180, 184, 186, 188).Merely by way of example, in the illustrated embodiment, the alertgateway 116 can communicate with a television 148. The television 148can, for instance, be used to display visual alert informationincluding, merely by way of example, graphics, maps, textualinformation, and the like, as well as audio alert information. Inaccordance with some embodiments (including without limitation certainembodiments discussed in various of the applications previouslyincorporated by reference), the alert gateway 116 can function as aset-top box.

In some such embodiments, the alert gateway 116 can be configured, uponreceipt of alert information, to superimpose that alert information overthe existing television signal being transmitted on transport medium 144a to television 148, including, for instance, as a picture and picturesignal or as a “ticker” running across the bottom, top, etc. of thescreen of the television 148. In accordance with other embodiments, thealert gateway 116 can be configured to tune the television 148 to aparticular channel and display the alert information on that channel,and/or to display a visual and/or audible alert indicating to thesubscriber that alert information has been received and that, if thesubscriber wishes to review the alert, the subscriber can tune thetelevision 148 to a particular channel and/or provide other prompting,such as pressing a particular button on a television remote control.Hence, the alert gateway 116 optionally can be configured to receiveinput from the television 148 and/or a remote control associated withthe television 148 and/or the alert gateway 116. In this way, thesubscriber can, if desired, respond to the alert information asdiscussed above.

The alert gateway 116 can also be in communication with an IP device152. The IP device 152 can be any type of device that is capable ofreceiving packeted data, in particular Internet Protocol data. Severaltypes of IP devices are described in the applications previouslyincorporated by reference and various of those devices can beincorporated within or accommodated by embodiments of the presentinvention. Thus, the alert gateway 116 may be configured to transmitalerts via a transport medium 144 b to any device 152 that is capable ofreceiving and/or transmitting IP data. Consequently, embodiments of theinvention allow for a robust architecture in which the alert gateway 116can transmit IP-formatted alert information to any of a variety ofdevices capable of receiving IP data.

In other embodiments, the alert gateway 116 can communicate with analert notification device 156, perhaps in the manner described abovewith reference to FIG. 1B. In still other embodiments, an alert gateway116 can communicate with IP set-top box 160, and, by extension, with atelevision 164. In this way, the interaction with television 164 can besimilar to the interaction described above with respect to television148 with the exception that the set-top box 160 can performintermediation tasks between the alert gateway 116 and the television164 such as converting signals from an IP-based format (MPEG, etc.) to atelevision signal (NTSC, PAL, HDTV, etc.). The set-top box 160 canperform other functions as well, including, without limitation, thosedescribed in various of the applications already incorporated byreference.

In accordance with certain embodiments of the invention, the alertgateway 116 can communicate with a variety of telephones, including,merely by way of example, an analog (POTS) telephone 168, a telephonecomplying with the session-initiation protocol (“SIP”) 172, a videophone 176, as well perhaps as an Internet access device (IAD), 180 whichcan be connected to an analog telephone 184. In addition, a phone 186complying with the voice over Internet protocol standard (“VOIP”) can beattached to the alert gateway 116 as well. Those skilled in the art willappreciate that different embodiments can feature multiple phones ofthese and other different types, including, for instance private branchexchange (“PBX”) systems.

Although each of the telephones 168, 172, 176, 184 can include a varietyof features that can be employed in accordance with various embodimentsof the present invention, these various embodiments all can have incommon the ability to send a ring signal from the alert gateway 116 tothe phone, causing the phone to ring upon reception of alert informationby the alert gateway 116. Hence, the ringing of the phone can serve as asignal to the subscriber that an alert has been received, similar to theway that a ringing phone generally signifies a that telephone call hasbeen received. (Somewhat similarly, the alert information could bestored as a message in a voice messaging system, which could be managedand/or stored by a demarcation device in accordance with embodimentsdisclosed in the previously incorporated applications, at the alertgateway, in a telecommunication provider's network, on an answeringmachine, and/or in other ways known in the art. In this way, embodimentsof the invention optionally could allow the voice messaging system'sstandard message indicator to serve as an alert notification indicator.)In accordance with various embodiments, a different ring tone, patternetc. can be used to signify an alert than is used to signify an incomingtelephone call. In the event a subscriber answers the ringing telephone,the alert information can be played to the user audibly. In addition,some phones, for example the video phone 176, may allow for the displayof information and/or video signals and the alert gateway 116 candisplay textual information and/or video information corresponding tothe alert received by the gateway 116.

Optionally, the alert gateway 116 can be configured to prompt thesubscriber to press a button on the telephone to indicate reception ofthe alert information. Alternatively, the alert gateway 116 can beconfigured to accept as confirmation that the alert was received themere fact that the subscriber answered the ringing telephone. In otherembodiments, the alert gateway 116 can be configured to respond toprompting from the subscriber (e.g., voice prompting and/or pressing akey) to provide more information about the alert and/or to respond insome other manner to the alert.

The alert gateway 116 also can be in communication with a computer 188.The computer 188 can be any kind of computing device, including merelyby way of example, a personal computer, a laptop computer, a handheldcomputer or the like, as long as it is capable of sending data to and/orreceiving information from the alert gateway 116. In some embodiments,the computer 188 can be configured with specialized software to enableit to receive information from the alert gateway 116. Alternatively, thecomputer 188 can receive alert information from the alert gateway in theform of Internet protocols such as HTTP, HTML, and the like, allowing acomputer with no specialized software to receive the alert informationusing standard Internet communication applications (e.g., web browsers,electronic mail clients, and the like). Thus, the alert gateway 116 canbe configured to display a visual and/or audible signal on the computer188, perhaps in the form of a pop-up window, audible alert tone, e-mailmessage, etc., informing the subscriber that an alert has been receivedby the alert gateway and/or providing the substance of the alertinformation. As discussed previously, the PC 188 can include any of avariety of input devices known in the art enabling the user to respondto the alert by, for instance, closing the alert window, clicking on abutton indicating that the alert has been received, clicking on a buttonrequesting more information about the alert, or the like.

In addition, the alert gateway 116 can be in communication with awireless device 192, such as a cellular phone, cordless phone, PCSphone, wireless e-mail device, portable computer (perhaps with awireless network card), and/or the like. As discussed earlier, the alertgateway can be configured with (as illustrated in FIG. 1C) a transceiverfor communicating directly with the wireless device 192 and/or cancommunicate with the wireless device 192 through an intermediary such asa separate wireless service (e.g., a wireless telephone provider, awireless e-mail provider, etc.). Thus, the alert gateway 116 cancommunicate by signaling the wireless device 192 with a wireless signaland/or communicating through a separate provider (such as, for instance,placing a telephone call through the public switched telephone networkto a telephone number associated with the wireless device 192 and/orsending e-mail through the Internet to the wireless device 192). Similarto the other devices discussed herein, the wireless device 192 canconfigured with a device such as a telephone keypad, keyboard, etc.,which can be used to allow a subscriber to respond the alert informationwas received, request more information and the like. Alternatively, thewireless device 192 itself automatically may broadcast a message to thealert gateway 116 indicating that it received the alert information.

In many cases, the alert gateway includes a storage medium (which caninclude any of those described in the applications previouslyincorporated by reference). The storage medium can store gateway- and/orsubscriber-specific information, including, by way of example, thephysical location of the alert gateway. The physical location can beexpressed in several different ways, including street address, areacode, zip code, GPS coordinates, and the like. Other gateway and/orsubscriber-specific information can include preference information aboutthe types of alerts the subscriber is interested in receiving (and/ornot receiving), and demographic information about the subscriber.Demographic information about a subscriber can include a broad range ofbiographical and other information about a subscriber, including merelyby way of example and without limitation, the age of the subscriber,health information about the subscriber (including information aboutallergies and other sensitivities), information about the subscriber'scommuting habits, information about the subscriber's purchasing habits,and the like. In addition, demographic information can includeinformation about other members of a subscriber's household. In someembodiments, the subscriber can specify which demographic information isstored by the system.

As mentioned above, in certain embodiments, the alert gateway can beincorporated within and/or be in communication with a demarcation deviceand/or a NID, including for instance, any of a variety of devicesdisclosed in the applications previously incorporated by reference.Merely by way of example, FIG. 2A illustrates a NID 200 that canincorporate and/or be in communication with an alert gateway, inaccordance with embodiments of the present invention. For purposes ofthis disclosure, a NID can be considered a device that can serve as theinterface between an external transport medium and an internal transportmedium and, in particular can act to receive alert information from analert distribution device (or another source) and distribute thatinformation throughout a subscriber premises and/or to an alert gateway,as appropriate.

Turning now to FIG. 2A, one exemplary embodiment of a NID 200 isillustrated. In the illustrated embodiment, NID 200 comprises aclamshell design, with a lid portion 204 and a body portion 208connected by hinges 212A, 212B. Turning now to FIG. 2B, it can be seenthat body portion comprises a network area 216 and a customer area 220.Generally, network area 216 is adapted to receive a cover and isdesigned generally to be accessible only to personnel authorized by thetelecommunication service provider. In contrast, when the ND 200 isopen, the customer can access the customer area 220 to add, remove ormodify components as desired. In this and other ways, NID can serve toisolate the telecommunication service provider's network from thecustomer's network, as described above. As discussed below, lid portion204 can contain a processing system 244.

Returning to FIG. 2A, NID 200 can include a first interface 228 forcommunicating with the provider's external transport medium. Thoseskilled in the art will recognize that, in some embodiments, asdescribed above, the external transport medium can be the twisted-paircopper “local loop” running from the customer's premises to thetelecommunication service provider's local office, and the firstinterface 228 can allow for the attachment of the local loop to the NID200. As discussed above, in other embodiments, the external transportmedium can be any of a variety of other media, including satellitetransmissions, wireless transmissions, coaxial cable, optical fiber, andthe like. In fact, in certain embodiments, the external transport mediumcan comprise multiple transport media (of the same or different types),for which the NID 200 could include multiple interfaces. The NID 200 canreceive alert information on the first interface 228 via the externaltransport medium.

In some embodiments, the NID 200 can function to logically couple orbond a plurality of external transport media to one another, seamlesslyincreasing the bandwidth available to the customer premises. Forinstance, a customer premises might have a satellite link to oneprovider and an ADSL link to another provider, and the NID 200 couldcombine or multiplex these two links to provide an apparent single,higher-bandwidth connection to the customer premises. Similarly, thoseskilled in the art will recognize that, in certain of these embodiments,a particular external transport medium (for instance, a satellite link)may be more well-suited to one way transmission of telecommunicationinformation; in such cases, the NID 200 could use a second externaltransport medium (for instance, an ADSL link) to allow transmission inthe other direction. In other embodiments, the NID 200 could beconfigured to receive alert information from one or more of the externalmedia and/or send confirmation (and/or other) messages to the alertdistribution device via one or more of the external media (which may ormay not be the same external media as the those used to receive thealert information).

The interface 228 can be coupled to a discrimination device 232, whichcan be operative to separate information sets received on the firstinterface 228 (and, conversely, aggregate information sets fortransmission on interface 228). Merely by way of example, in particularembodiments, the discrimination device 232 can separate POTS informationfrom other telecommunication information and/or isolate signals on theinternal transport medium from the external transport medium (andvice-versa). In this way, for instance, a provider can transmit bothalert information and other telecommunication information (including,merely by way of example POTS telephone signals) via a common transportmedium, and the NID 200 can separate the information sets and route themappropriately. Thus, for example, the discrimination device 232 canroute alert information (perhaps along with other data) along one path,while routing analog telephone signals along another path.

In some embodiments, for instance xDSL implementations, thediscrimination device 232 can comprise one or more filters. Such filterscan include (but are not limited to) high-pass, low-pass and/or bandpass filters. For instance, in an xDSL implementation, thediscrimination device 232 might include a high-pass and/or low-passfilter for separating high-frequency (e.g., data) from low frequency(e.g., POTS) information. In other embodiments, the discriminationdevice 232 can comprise many other types of filters, including bothdigital and analog filters. In a sense, telecommunication information(including alert information) can be thought of as being grouped intodifferent information sets, depending, inter alia, on the type and/orcontent of the information, as discussed more fully in the applicationspreviously incorporated by reference. The discrimination device 232 canbe operable to separate information sets through a variety of criteria,including for example, by frequency, by destination device, informationtype, frequency, and the like. In certain embodiments, as discussedbelow, alert information can comprise one or more information sets.Further, in certain embodiments, information sets can be multiplexed(for instance, using various time-division multiplexing or wave-divisionmultiplexing schemes known in the art) for transmission over an externaltransport medium, and discrimination device 232 can comprise ade-multiplexer capable of separating multiplexed signals and,optionally, routing each signal to the appropriate destination.

In the illustrated embodiment, the discrimination device 232 is incommunication with a second interface 236, which can interface with thetelephone wires at the customer premises to provide traditional analogtelephone service. In some embodiments, an aggregator 240 can besituated between the discrimination device 232 and the second interface236 to allow additional (perhaps non-POTS) information sets to be sentand received through the second interface 236 simultaneously with thePOTS information. This can include, for example, aggregating informationsets for transmission of an HPNA (or HPNA+) signal over an internaltransport medium.

The discrimination device can also be coupled to a processing system244, which in the illustrated embodiment is located in the lid portion204, and all non-POTS information sets (including, for instance, alertinformation) can be routed to processing system 244 for additionalprocessing and/or routing. The processing system 244 is described indetail below, but can, in general, comprise one or microprocessors,including digital signal processor (“DSP”) chips, and/or memory devices,including both volatile and nonvolatile memories, as well as a varietyof read-only memory devices known in the art, such as programmable readonly memory (“PROM”) devices and erasable programmable read only memory(“EPROM”) devices (a term which should be interpreted to includeelectrically erasable programmable (“EEPROM”) devices, in addition toother EPROM devices) and storage devices (including hard disk drives,optical drives and other media) In fact, the processing system 244 cancomprise the equivalent of one or more personal computers, running anyof a variety of operating systems, including variants of Microsoft'sWindows™ operating system, as well as various flavors of the UNIX™operating system, including open source implementations such as theseveral Linux™ and OpenBSD™ operating systems.

Telecommunication information (or information sets) can be processed byprocessing system 244 in a variety of ways, including, for example,routing a given information set to a particular interface, transforminginformation (for example, encoding/decoding information and convertingbetween different transport protocols), storing information, filteringinformation, and any of the other functions described herein withrespect to processing systems. With respect to alert information, theprocessing system 244 can provide a plurality of processing functions,including without limitation, performing text-to-speech (and/orspeech-to-text) transformations, extraction (or addition) ofclosed-captioning information to a video signal, aggregation of multipleinformation sets into a combined set (including, for instance,superimposing alert information on an existing video signal fortransmission to and/or display be a video display), and the like. Ingeneral, the processing system can include the necessary hardware,software and/or firmware to provide any of the alert processingfunctions described in further detail herein.

In certain embodiments, processing system 244 can also serve as thetermination point for an external transport medium; for instance theprocessing system 244 can incorporate the functionality of an xDSLmodem. In other embodiments, the processing system 244 can serve toidentify quality of service requirements (for instance, latencyrequirements for voice transmissions and bandwidth requirements forstreaming media transmissions, to name a few) and enforce thoserequirements, ensuring that sufficient bandwith is provided to aparticular device, network segment or application to maintain thequality of service required.

In accordance with some embodiments, the processing system 244 can be incommunication with the aggregator 240, which, as discussed above, canaggregate non-POTS information sets received from processing system 244and/or POTS information sets received directly from discriminationdevice 232 for consolidated transmission via the second interface 236,among other functions. In effect, the discrimination device 232 and theaggregator 240 (perhaps in conjunction with the processing system 244)can function to separate telecommunication information received on theexternal interface 228 into a set of POTS telecommunication informationand a set of non-POTS telecommunication (wherein POTS information can beunderstood to be ordinary analog telephone signals, and non-POTSinformation can be understood to include all other telecommunicationinformation, including for example, alert information), route thenon-POTS information via transport medium 248 to the processing system244 for processing, and route the POTS information to the internalinterface 236 for transmission to the internal transport medium. Incertain embodiments, one or more sets of non-POTS information can berouted (e.g., via transport medium 252) for transmission throughinterface 236, perhaps in combination with one or more sets of POTSinformation.

Of course, the discrimination device 232 and the aggregator 240 canperform similar functions in reverse (i.e., to separate and recombinedifferent sets of telecommunication information received on theinterface 236 from the customer's premises). Thus, in some embodiments,both the discrimination device 232 and the aggregator 240 each canperform a combined discrimination device-aggregator function, dependingon the direction of information flow and can, in fact, supportsimultaneous (and/or near-simultaneous) bidirectional information flow.In fact, while termed “discrimination device” and “aggregator” for easeof description, those two devices can actually be relatively similar(and even, in some cases, identical), and further, their functionalitycan, in some embodiments, be incorporated into a single device, whichcould be coupled to the first interface 228, the second interface 236,and the processing system 244, and which could route information setsamong any of those components as necessary. Moreover, as describedbelow, the functionality of the discrimination device 232 and/or theaggregator 240 can be incorporated into the processing system 244;likewise, the discrimination device 232 can incorporate the interface228 and/or aggregator 240 can incorporate the interface 236, such thatthe discrimination device 232 and/or the aggregator 240 comprise thenecessary components to be coupled directly to the external and internaltransport media, respectively.

The discrimination device 232 and/or the aggregator 240 can also serveanother function in certain embodiments: Since the external transportmedium is coupled to the first interface 228 and the internal transportmedium can be coupled to, inter alia, the second interface 236, thediscrimination 232 device and/or aggregator 240 can serve as anisolation device for intermediating between the two media, such thatwhen a topological change occurs in one of the media, only the NIDinterface need be changed, and the other transport medium is notaffected. In some such embodiments, the discrimination device 232 and/oraggregator 240 can serve to intermediate (including protocol translationand the like) between the interfaces 232, 240, allowing either theinternal or the external transport medium to be upgraded or changedwithout impacting the other transport medium. Of course, in certainembodiments, this isolation function also could be performed by theprocessing system 244. In yet other embodiments, the isolation devicemight comprise a separate piece of hardware in communication withdiscrimination device 232, aggregator 240 and/or processing system 244.

In certain embodiments, the NID 200 can have one or more additionalinterfaces 256, 260 in communication with processing system 244 viatransport media 264, 268, respectively. These additional interfaces 256,260 can be adapted to communicate with any of a variety of internaltransport media to send/receive telecommunication information to/fromthe customer premises. For instance, one interface 256 can be a coaxialinterface for connection to RG6 and/or RG59 cable, and another interface260 can be an RJ45 and/or RJ11 interface for connection to unshieldedtwisted pair cable (which can, for instance, form a 10Base-T Ethernetnetwork).

In certain embodiments, the NID 200 can comprise a line driver (notshown on FIG. 2A), coupled to the processing system 244 and/or theaggregator 240. The line driver can function to allow conversion betweenvarious network formats and media, allowing a variety of different mediatypes (e.g., twisted pair and/or coaxial cable, in accordance with theHPNA and HPNA+ standards, as well, perhaps, as the customer premises'A/C wiring, in accordance, for example, with the HomePlug™ standard) totransport combined POTS and non-POTS information sets. If necessary, oneor more different line drivers can be used to accommodate a variety oftransport media.

The ability of NID 200 to support multiple interfaces of different typesallows great flexibility in routing telecommunication informationthroughout the customer premises. Merely by way of example, if interface228 receives telecommunication information that includesdigitally-encoded video signals (e.g., MPEG-2 data), the information setthat includes the encoded video signals can be routed by discriminationdevice 232 to processing system 244, which can decode the signals intoan RF-modulated NTSC, HDTV and/or PAL format and transmit the signalsvia transport medium 264 to coaxial interface 256, where it can betransmitted via coaxial cable to one or more televisions at the customerpremises. Alternatively, if the customer has a digital set-top boxlocated at the television, the encoded signals can be routed byprocessing system 244 (perhaps through the appropriate line driver) toaggregator 240, where the signals can be transferred through interface236 to the set-top box for decoding.

In some embodiments, the NID 200 might receive IP data, including forexample alert information, (perhaps combined with other types oftelecommunication information) on interface 228. The information setcomprising the IP data can be routed by the discrimination device 232via a transport medium 248 to the processing system 244, where it can beprocessed, and depending on the embodiment, routed via another transportmedium 252 to the customer's existing telephone wiring (perhaps using aninterface 236, optionally in conjunction with an aggregator 240 and/orone or more line drivers), routed to a 10Base-T network (perhaps atransport medium 268 and an interface 260), routed to a coaxial cable(e.g., using a transport medium 264 and an interface 256), or routed viaa wireless interface (not shown in FIG. 2A). Alternatively, the IP datacan be routed to any combination of these interfaces, and any of theseinterfaces could also receive IP or other telecommunication informationfrom subscriber equipment at the customer premises, for routing to theprocessing system 244. In this way, NID 200 can allow virtuallyunlimited connectivity options for each CPE at the customer premises.Adding to the flexibility of the NID 200, the processing system 244 caninclude the necessary components to serve, for instance, as a cable,wireless, or xDSL modem, as well as components necessary to serve as anEthernet hub, switch, router or gateway, the functions of each of whichare familiar to those skilled in the art.

Hence, in an exemplary embodiment in which the ND 200 acts as an alertgateway, the NID 200 can receive alert information, which in some casescan be packeted, Internet Protocol data. Once received by the NID 200,the alert information can be routed to the processing system, where itcan be processed as described below to the extent necessary. In somecases, for instance, processing can comprise distilling the alert fromthe alert information, as well as analyzing the alert information todetermine how to handle the alert. Merely by way of example, the alertgateway (in this case the NID 200) can be configured to route differenttypes of alerts to different subscriber equipment and/or treat differenttypes of alerts differently, so that, for instance, a relatively lowpriority alert (e.g., a severe thunderstorm alert) might only be routedto subscriber equipment during certain hours and/or might be routed onlyto certain equipment (e.g., currently operating video devices) while arelatively high priority alert (e.g., a tornado alert) might be routedto all devices at all times of the day, so that the subscriber can beawoken, for instance, by a ringing telephone in time to take necessaryaction to avoid being caught in the tornado.

As this example illustrates, alert gateways can be capable of analyzingand discriminating between alert types (based, in some cases, on thealert information associated with the alert) and different alert typesdifferently, by routing the alerts to different subscriber equipment,requiring or not requiring receipt confirmation, treating alertsdifferently according to the time of day and/or whether a subscriber ispresent, and the like. In cases in which the alert gateway isincorporated within a NID, the processing system 244 can handle thisfunction, and can route the alert to different interfaces and/or withdifferent destination addresses according to the analysis.

In certain embodiments, the NID 200 can comprise a power supply 272 forproviding electrical power to the components in the NID 200. The powersupply 272 can be powered through electrical current carried on theexternal transport medium and received on an external interface 228.Alternatively, power supply can receive electrical current from acoaxial interface (e.g., 256), or through a dedicated transformerplugged into an A/C outlet at customer premises, e.g., through a 12Vconnection 276. The processing system 244 can be powered by a connection280 to the power supply 272, or through one or more separate powersources, including perhaps the A/C power of the customer premises. Insome embodiments, the processing system 244 might have its own powersupply.

As mentioned above, the processing system 244 can comprise a pluralityof processing devices, and each processing device can comprise multiplecomponents, including microprocessors, memory devices, storage devicesand the like. Merely by way of example, FIG. 3 provides a detailedillustration of exemplary processing system 244, which comprisesmultiple processing devices 304, 308, 312. In accordance with theexemplified embodiment, a transport medium 248 links the processingsystem 244 with an external transport medium (perhaps via adiscrimination device and/or interface, as described above).

The transport medium 248 can be coupled to a microserver 304, such thatany information received by the processing system 244 via the transportmedium 248 is first processed by microserver 304. Some embodiments ofthe invention include microservers similar to those described in theapplications previously incorporated by reference. The microserver 304can, in some embodiments, be the equivalent of a server computer,complete with memory devices, storage devices, and the like, each ofwhich is known in the art and none of which is illustrated on FIG. 3. Incertain embodiments, the microserver 304 serves as the controller forthe NID 200, overseeing the NID's configuration and monitoringperformance; in some such embodiments, the controller functions can beaccessed using a web browser. Depending on the embodiment, themicroserver 304 can be capable of performing a wide variety ofadditional functions, including functions related to administering anylocal area network comprised by the internal transport medium. Forinstance, the microserver 304 can function as an xDSL modem in certainembodiments, allowing a home network attached to the NID to transmit andreceive data via an xDSL connection to a telecommunication serviceprovider. The microserver 304 can, in some cases, also function as ahub, bridge, switch or router.

Further examples of functions of microservers in various embodimentsinclude a dynamic host configuration protocol (“DHCP”) server, which, asthose skilled in the art will appreciate, allows for flexibleconfiguration of an IP network using any internal transport mediumattached to the NID, and a network address translation (“NAT”) server,which provides some security against unauthorized use of the customer'snetwork. The microserver 304 can also function as a HyperText TransportProtocol (“HTTP”) server, which, among other benefits, can allowconfiguration of the NID through a convenient web interface, as well asa bridge, switch or router, which can be capable of supporting advancedrouting techniques, such as MPLS and EFM, to name a few. Microserver 304can function further to manage quality of service requirements.

In addition to these functions, the microserver 304 can be configured toroute information sets received via the transport medium 248, accordingto the type of telecommunication information in the set (e.g., encodedvideo, alert information, other IP data, etc.) as well as any addressinginformation associated with either the set or the information itcomprises (e.g., a specified destination port or network address for aparticular subset of telecommunication information). In this way, themicroserver 304 can serve a switching function somewhat similar to thatdescribed with respect to discrimination device 232 described inrelation to FIG. 2A. For instance, if IP data is received by microserver304, such data can be routed to an Ethernet connection, to the existingtelephone wiring (e.g., in an HPNA implementation), or to any otherappropriate medium (perhaps via an appropriate line driver). Similarly,the microserver 304 can serve to route alerts and/or alert informationto the appropriate subscriber equipment and/or alert notificationdevices. In fact, in certain embodiments, processing system 244 (and inparticular the microserver 304) can incorporate the functionality of adiscrimination device 232 and/or an aggregator 240, rendering thosecomponents optional.

In addition to the microserver 304, the processing system 244 caninclude other components, including, for instance, an application server308 and a set-top box 312, which, in the illustrated embodiment, arecoupled to the microserver 304. The application server 308 can comprisethe equivalent of a computer, as described above, and thus can compriseone or more storage devices, such as a hard disk drive 320, as well asmemory devices, microprocessors and the like, to enable it to store andprocess telecommunication information and other data. In certainembodiments, the application server 308 can perform tasks withprocessing, memory and/or storage requirements that render themicroserver 304 unsuitable, including a wide variety of consumerapplications. For instance, the application server 308 can act as adigital recorder for storing video (perhaps as a video-on-demand serveror a personal video recorder), a file and/or application server for ahome network attached to the NID, a Voice over IP (“VoIP”) server,caller identification server, or voice gateway for a telephone systemattached to the NID. The application server 308 can also function as ahome security server, allowing the control of various features andconfiguration options for a home security system. Additionally, theapplication server 308 either on its own or in conjunction with themicroserver 312, process the alert and/or alert information, includingwithout limitation performing the processing tasks described byreference to the microserver 304, above.

The set-top box 312, which, in some embodiments, can be coupled tomicroserver 304 as illustrated on FIG. 3, can provide traditionalset-top box functionality (e.g., decoding of television signals,frequency switching, etc.), as well as provide enhanced features,including, for example, the provision of picture-in-picture signals fornon picture-in-picture televisions, the provision of video on demand,personal video recorder features, and many other such features. Thus,the set-top box 312 can be used to, for example, insert an alert into avideo signal, provide notification of the reception of an alert, providean interface (e.g., through a remote control) for the subscriber toconfirm reception of the alert, request more information, etc.

The processing system 244 can have multiple means of input and output.Merely by way of example, the microserver 304 can communicate with oneor more external transport media (perhaps, as discussed above, viaintermediary devices) using one or more transport media (e.g., 248). Theprocessing system 244 (and, specifically, the microserver 304) also cancommunicate with one or more internal transport media (for examplecategory 5, 5e and/or 6 unshielded twisted pair wire 268, RG6 and/orRG59 coaxial cable 264, and category 3 unshielded twisted pair copper(telephone) wire 252), again possibly via intermediary devices, asdiscussed with reference to FIG. 2A. Notably, some embodiments of theprocessing system 244 can include interfaces for multiple transportmedia of a particular type, for instance, if the processing system 244(and, in particular, the microserver 304) serves as a networking hub,switch or router. The processing system 244 can also have infra-red andradio-frequency receivers and/or transmitters, for instance to allow useof a remote control device, as well as wireless transceivers, forinstance to allow wireless (e.g., IEEE 802.11) networking.

As illustrated on FIG. 3, in some embodiments, the microserver 304manages the connections between application server 308, set-top box 312and transport media 248, 252, 264, 268, routing data as necessary. Inother embodiments, each device 304, 308, 312 can have independentconnections to one or more transport media.

It should be recognized that the devices within the processing system244 are described for illustrative purposes only. The functionalitydescribed above with respect to the microserver 304, application server308 and set-top box 312, respectively, each could be incorporated into asingle device within the processing system 244. Alternatively, theirfunctions described herein could be divided among any number ofprocessors and devices within processing system 244. Thus, the divisionof functions among devices within the processing system 244 isdiscretionary and should not be considered to limit the scope of theinvention.

In accordance with some embodiments, the an alert gateway might comprisemultiple enclosures, each located in a different location and incommunication with one another. One or more of those enclosures might beassociated with a NID. Merely by way of example, FIG. 4 illustrates analternative embodiment of the invention, including a NID 400 and aseparate processing system 404. In the illustrated embodiment, forexample, a demarcation device (e.g., the NID 400) can provide external(e.g., with a telecommunication network) and internal (e.g., with thesubscriber premises) communication capabilities, and the processingsystem 404 can provide processing capabilities, including, for example,functioning as an alert gateway. In this way, processing system 404 canbe located in a more secure area (for instance, inside the customerpremises), while the NID 400 can be located conveniently at the exteriorof the customer premises, where it can be accessed easily by servicepersonnel. (Of course, it should be noted that a NID can also behardened, so that it can be securely located in its entirety on theexterior of the customer premises, as, for instance, in the embodimentsdiscussed above.) In some embodiments, the processing system 404 can bein communication with a NID 400 via similar transport media 412, 416,420, 424 to those discussed with respect to FIG. 3 (248, 252, 264, 268,respectively) and can include all of the same functionality of theembodiments discussed above. As illustrated in FIG. 4, the processingsystem 404 generally can draw power from its own source 428, although itcan also be powered by the NID 400, either via one of the transportmedia 412, 416, 420, 424 or through a separate power connection 432.

Other embodiments of the invention provide methods of providing an alertto one or more subscribers. Turning now to FIGS. 5A, 5B and 6, exemplarymethods of providing an alert are illustrated in accordance withembodiments of the invention. These exemplary methods, for illustrativepurposes, are described with respect to the exemplary systems discussedabove. Thus, those skilled in the art will recognize, based on thedisclosure herein, than the procedures discussed with respect to thesemethods can be performed by the structures discussed above. Nonetheless,it should be recognized that the methods are not limited to anyparticular system of implementation and the scope of the inventiontherefore should not be interpreted as being limited to any structuralfeatures discussed in relation to the exemplary methods. Similarly,while for convenience the procedures embodied by the exemplary methodsare discussed in a particular order herein, it should be recognized thatcertain illustrated steps can be omitted and that the ordering of thesteps herein is discretionary and should not be interpreted as limitingthe scope of the invention unless a particular ordering is specificallydescribed as mandatory.

FIG. 5A provides an exemplary method 500 for distributing an alert to aset of one or more distribution addresses. The method 500 optionally cancomprise providing an alert receiver (block 504) and/or an alertdistribution device (block 508), which can be devices similar to thosedescribed above and/or can be incorporated within a single device. Asnoted above, the alert receiver and/or alert distribution device can becapable of receiving an alert message, which can comprise an alertand/or additional alert information. The method 500 also optionallycomprises providing an alert gateway (block 512), which likewise can besimilar to the alert gateways described above, and which can be capableof receiving an alert (e.g., from the alert distribution device), insome cases as part of an alert message.

At block 516, the alert message can be received, perhaps by an alertreceiver and/or an interface in communication with an alert distributiondevice. As noted above, the alert message can comprise an alert and/oralert information associated with the alert. In some embodiments,receiving the alert message can comprise receiving the alert message atan alert receiver and forwarding the alert message to an alertdistribution device for further action. In other embodiments, the alertmessage may be received directly by an alert distribution device, whichmay include the necessary hardware to receive the alert. In many cases,the format of an alert message can vary widely. For instance, an alertmessage may comprise an audio and/or video signal received over theairways, via a cable distribution medium, through the Internet, and thelike. In other cases, the alert message can be simple textual message.In still other cases, the alert message can comprise one or moreformatted data files, including for example, HTML and/or XML files.

If necessary, the alert message can be processed (block 520). Alertprocessing can be performed at one or more stages of the process (e.g,after reception by the alert receiver/alert distribution device,immediately prior to transmission to an alert gateway, after receptionby the alert gateway, etc.) In some embodiments, the alert message canbe processed after being received at the alert distribution device, asshown by FIG. 5A.

In some cases, processing of the alert message can be performed by thealert distribution device, the alert receiver and/or the alert gateway(and/or, more specifically, by a processor incorporated within one ormore of those devices and executing software instructions). In othercases, the processing can be performed by a computer in communicationwith one of these devices. Processing an alert message may comprise anyof several procedures, including those procedures described elsewhereherein. For instance, as noted above, in some cases, an alert messagemay comprise an alert and associated alert information. In such cases,processing the alert may comprise extracting (i.e., reading) the alertinformation from the alert message, so that the alert information can beused to determine to which destination addresses the alert should betransmitted. Optionally, the alert information can be removed from thealert message, such that, when transmitted by the distribution device,the alert message can comprise only the alert itself. Alternatively, thealert information can remain in the alert message and thereby betransmitted, along with (or without) the alert by the alert distributiondevice.

Processing can comprise other operations, as well, including withoutlimitation converting and/or modifying the format and/or content of thealert message. For instance, in embodiments in which the alert messagecomprises video information, processing can include transforming thevideo signals into a different format (e.g., NTSC to MPEG, MPEG2 toMPEG4, etc.) to text (e.g., using speech recognition software and/oralgorithms, including various of those known in the art) and/or to audio(e.g., by removing the video information from the signal, perhaps toallow for lower-bandwidth transmission). Similarly, for alert messagesthat comprise primarily text and/or audio information, still imagesand/or video can be added to enhance the utility of the alert message.Merely by way of example, if a received alert message includes a weatheralert for a particular county, embodiments of the present invention canbe configured to acquire (e.g., by searching the Internet, etc.) acurrent, forecasted and/or recent radar image for that locale andincorporate that image into the alert message before transmitting thealert message. In this respect, embodiments of the invention can beconfigured to interface with other public sources of information,including, merely by way of example, radar maps and forecast informationavailable online through the National Weather Service and/or NationalOceanic and Atmospheric Administration. In other embodiments of theinvention, the alert distribution device can be configured to createalerts by periodically and/or on demand acquiring such information andtransmitting it to one or more alert gateways, perhaps in accordancewith specified subscriber preferences.

At block 524, the alert distribution device determines a set of one ormore destination addresses to which the alert pertains and/or should betransmitted. One exemplary method of determining the set of destinationaddresses is discussed in detail below with respect to FIG. 6.Additional methods of determining the set of destination addresses canbe implemented in accordance with embodiments of the invention, and thespecific method used can vary depending, inter alia, on the type ofalert message being transmitted. Merely by way of example, the alertdistribution device can be configured as a general rule to implement theaddress determination procedures described with respect to FIG. 6, butto alert messages meeting certain criteria differently, such as forexample, broadcasting an alert message received from a high-prioritysource (e.g., the U.S. Department of Homeland Security) and/orcontaining certain text/metadata (e.g., “FOR GENERAL DISTRIBUTION,”“FLASH,” etc.) to all destination addresses, irrespective of otheraddress determination guidelines.

At block 526, the alert message can be formatted for distribution to theselected destination address(es). In accordance with some embodiments,formatting the alert message can comprise segmenting the alert messageinto data packets of the appropriate length and/or adding appropriateheader and tail information to those data packets. In this way, forinstance, the alert message can be given a form suitable fortransmission to an alert gateway (e.g., via an IP network or the like)and/or directed to the correct destination addresses. In accordance withcertain embodiments, therefore, formatting the message can includeencapsulating the alert message into an appropriate number of IPpackets, each with appropriate address information to allow transmissionof the alert message.

Certain embodiments of the invention allow for multicast distribution ofalert messages. Some such embodiments can use a variety of packetdistribution techniques such as sparse multicasting, dense multicastingand the like, many of which are well-known in the art. In this way, forinstance, an alert message can efficiently be routed to a plurality ofdestination addresses by formatting the message using one or more setsof multicast packets. In accordance with other embodiments, however,including, for instance, those embodiments used in environments that donot support multicast packet transmission, the system can provide forunicast transmission of packets. Thus, for each distribution address, adifferent set of packets can be formatted and transmitted. Based on thedisclosure herein, those skilled in the art will appreciate as well thatcertain embodiments can use a combination of multicast and unicasttransmitting schemes in order to distribute messages efficiently. Inaccordance with further embodiments, alert messages can be formatted totake advantage of quality of service features and/or requirementsimplemented on certain networks, including for example, those quality ofservice considerations discussed in various of the applications alreadyincorporated herein by reference.

The alert message then can be transmitted (block 528) to the selecteddistribution address(es). In some cases, the transmission of the alertmessage can, as described above, comprise transmission of a series of IPpackets comprising the alert message in accordance with the proceduresdescribed above and/or any other method known to those skilled in theart. Certain embodiments of the alert distribution device can beconfigured to anticipate a confirmation message (block 532) from analert gateway, such that if a confirmation message has not been receivedby the alert distribution device within a certain period of time (whichcan, in some cases be predetermined by the subscriber's and/orprovider's preferences), the alert distribution device can be configuredto retransmit (block 536) the alert transmission to the non-responsivealert gateway. The transmission of the alert information can, in someembodiments, include transmitting the alert message via the same path(e.g., the same route and/or transmission medium) as was used originallyto transmit the alert message. In another embodiment, however, if thealert distribution device is in communication with the alert gatewaythrough multiple transmission media and/or data routes, retransmissioncan comprise transmitting the alert message via a different path. Ineither case, embodiments of the invention allow for verifiedtransmission of urgent alert messages such that if the alert gateway forwhich the message is intended does not indicate that the message hasbeen received within a certain period of time, the message can beretransmitted possibly through a different route. This process cancontinue for a certain period of time and/or number of iterations, atwhich point if there still has been no confirmation of reception by thealert gateway, the system can log a failure and stop retransmitting themessage. Alternatively, retransmission can occur indefinitely.

FIG. 5B illustrates a method 540 of distributing an alert message tovarious subscriber equipment, which can be located either at thesubscriber's premises or away from the subscriber's premises. In someembodiments, the alert message distributed according to methodsillustrated by FIG. 5B can be an alert message received from an alertdistribution device, for instance, as described above. Thus, the alertmessage can include an alert and/or associated alert information. Atblock 544, an alert gateway can receive the alert message. In someembodiments, receiving the alert information can comprise receiving aset of one or more IP packets addressed to the alert gateway. The IPpackets thus can comprise the alert message. Optionally, upon receptionor in reply of or the alert message, the alert gateway can send aconfirmation message, which can, in some embodiments, also be a messagecomprising one or more IP packets. The confirmation message can be sentto an alert distribution device from which the alert gateway receivedthe alert message and/or an alternative recipient, such as an emailaddress, host, etc. dedicated to receiving such confirmations. Thealternative recipient can (but need not) be associated with the provideroperating the alert distribution device.

After receiving the alert message, the gateway can inform the subscriberof the alert (block 548). In some cases (for instance, where the alertgateway incorporates an alert notification device, and/or is coupled toan alert notification device), informing the subscriber directly aboutthe alert can include playing an audible signal 552 (which can be analert tone, a voice message, etc.) and/or displaying a visual signal 556(which can include illuminating an LED, illustrating a text messageand/or the like). In some cases, informing the subscriber about thealert message can include displaying and/or audibly playing the alertfor the subscriber, either with or without prompting from thesubscriber. In certain embodiments, the alert message can be processedas described elsewhere herein before informing the user about the alertmessage and/or playing/displaying the alert.

Alternatively and/or in addition to directly informing the subscriber ofthe alert, the alert gateway can determine which, if any, subscriberdevices should receive the alert (block 560). In some instances,determining which subscriber device(s) should receive the alert caninclude analyzing the nature of the alert message to determine the mostappropriate device to receive the alert. Merely by way of example, foran alert message that includes a video signal, the alert gateway candetermine, based on the presence of the video signal, that a videodisplay device such as a television, computer, etc. would be the mostappropriate device to receive the alert. In other embodiments, theurgency of the alert (which can be conveyed through the additional alertinformation described in detail above and/or can be ascertained by thealert gateway, for instance, by searching the text of the alert forcertain key terms, such as “AMBER,” “HOMELAND SECURITY,” and/or thelike) can be used to determine which devices should receive the alert.Thus, an alert message that is deemed more urgent can be transmitted,for instance, directly to a subscriber's telephone, wireless phone,pager, etc., while relatively less urgent alert messages can betransmitted via e-mail, voicemail message, or the like. Merely by way ofexample, a particularly urgent message, such as a message regardinghomeland security, may be transmitted to all available subscriberequipment simultaneously in order to maximize the probability that thesubscriber will receive the message quickly.

The alert gateway can also process the alert message (block 564).Processing the alert message can include any of the processing functionsdiscussed above (for example, with respect to FIG. 5A). In addition,processing can include, for example, decoding and/or translating thealert message (block 568). Merely by way of example, decoding the alertmessage can include removing formatting information and/or decapsulatingthe alert message from the format in which it was received, as well astransforming the message (using, for instance, text-to-speech and/orspeech-to-text routines known in the art).

In some embodiments, processing the alert message can include extractingclosed-captioning information from the alert message (block 572). Thus,for example, if the alert message comprises a television signal, thealert gateway can extract any available closed-captioning informationfrom that television signal and format that closed-captioning text as anelectronic mail message, which can then be transmitted to subscriberequipment as desired. In other embodiments the alert gateway can also beconfigured to convert alert information (block 576), including, forinstance, any of the conversation/translation methods described above.

At block 580, the alert can be transmitted to the selected subscriberdevices, which can include, inter alia, any of the subscriber equipmentdescribed above. Similar to the alert distribution devices describedabout, the alert gateway can anticipate receiving a confirmationmessage, for instance from a particular subscriber device (block 584).In some cases, subscriber devices can be configured to transmitconfirmation messages upon reception of the alert message while in othercases, subscriber devices can be configured to transmit confirmationmessages only upon positive confirmation that the subscriber actuallyhas received a message. Thus, for instance, if an alert message isdisplayed on a television screen using, for instance, a set-top box, theset-top box can wait for the user to press a certain button on a remotecontrol device before transmitting a confirmation message to the alertgateway. Likewise, a computer can display an alert message in a pop-upwindow, for instance, and require a user to click on a button beforesending a confirmation message to the alert gateway.

In embodiments where the alert distribution device is configured toreceive a confirmation from the alert gateway, the alert gatewayoptionally can be configured not to transmit a confirmation message tothe alert distribution device until it has received a confirmationmessage from a subscriber device. In other cases, a two-stageconfirmation process can be employed, whereby the alert gateway sends afirst confirmation message when it receives the alert message and asecond confirmation message when it receives confirmation that asubscriber device has received the alert (and/or the subscriber actuallyhas reviewed the alert). In this way, embodiments of the inventionprovide the ability to ensure end-to-end transmission (and, ultimately,reception by the subscriber) of any particular alert message, allowingthe provider the ability to continue transmitting an alert message untilall necessary subscribers have in fact received that alert message.

In accordance with some embodiments, if the alert gateway sends an alertmessage to multiple subscriber devices, receipt by the alert gateway ofa confirmation message from any of the devices can prompt the alertgateway to send a cancellation/retraction message to the other devicesthat received the alert, so that the subscriber does not need to confirmand/or clear the alert message from each device that received the alert.In other embodiments, the alert gateway can be configured to send aretraction/cancellation message to the devices after the occurrence of acertain event (which can be, for example, an additional alert messagereceived by the alert gateway that updates or cancels the originalalert) or the expiration of the alert. (For instance, the alertinformation in a message can specify an expiration date/time, as in thecase of weather alerts.)

If the alert gateway does not receive a confirmation message within acertain period of time, the alert gateway can be configured toretransmit the information (block 588), by transmitting the alertinformation repeatedly to the same subscriber device and/or sequentially(and/or in parallel) transmitting the alert information to othersubscriber devices. In this way, the alert gateway can be configured totransmit to a plurality of devices according to a priority list, suchthat, for instance, an alert message may first be transmitted to acomputer and, if no response is received from the computer, the alertmessage can be transmitted to a television; if no confirmation isreceived from the television, the alert gateway can be configured tocall the subscriber's cellular telephone and transmit the alertinformation that way. As described above, in accordance with certainembodiments, the alert gateway can include a configuration interfacewhich can be a web interface and/or a dedicated connection (e.g., aserial connection to a computer running a configuration application),and this configuration interface can allow the subscriber to specifywhich subscriber devices and/or in which order certain subscriberdevices should receive alerts, according to characteristics of the alertmessage itself.

FIG. 6 illustrates a method 600 of determining a set of one or moredistribution addresses to which a particular alert message should besent. The exemplary method 600 comprises maintaining a database (block604). In accordance with some embodiments, the database can be aplurality of databases and/or can be similar to any of the databasesdescribed above with respect to the alert distribution system of FIG.1A. In particular embodiments, the database(s) can be used to storeinformation for determining a set of addresses to which an alert messageshould be distributed.

As mentioned above, in particular embodiments, the database can be aplurality of databases. Merely by way of example, a first database canstore logical addressing information (which can, as discussed below,include dynamically-assigned addresses) for a plurality of gateways, asdiscussed above, while a second database can store characteristics of agateway including, for instance, the physical location of a gateway,preferences of a subscriber associated with a gateway, graphiccharacteristics of the subscriber, capabilities of the gateway,subscriber devices attached to a gateway, and the like. (Those skilledin the art will recognize, however, based on the disclosure herein, thatcertain embodiments may store this information in a single database. Asnoted above, the number and organization of the databases arediscretionary.) At block 608, characteristics of one or more gatewayscan be stored, perhaps in one or more of the databases described above.Gateway characteristics can comprise any information that may facilitateidentification and/or categorization of a given alert gateway,including, merely by way of example, characteristics described above,such as the physical location of the gateway, preferences of asubscriber associated with a gateway, gateway capabilities, and thelike. In some embodiments, the gateway characteristics can includeand/or be associated with a identifier for the gateway. The identifiercan be unique (at least within the provider's system) and can include,merely by way of example, a physical (MAC) address and/or any otheridentifier which is capable of identifying a particular gateway.

At block 612, a distribution address can be maintained for a particularalert gateway. The destination address can be the logical addressinginformation for the gateway. In some embodiments, for instance thoseembodiments in which alert messages are transmitted using the InternetProtocol, a distribution address can be an IP address. Those skilled inthe art will recognize, however, that other logical addressing schemescan easily be implemented within the scope of the invention. Suchlogical addresses can be assigned by the provider and can includeEthernet addresses, telephone numbers, and the like. In someembodiments, the distribution address can be maintained in the sameand/or a different database as the gateway characteristics.

At block 616, the distribution address for a particular gateway can beassociated with the gateway characteristics for that gateway.Association of the distribution address with a set of gatewaycharacteristics allows, for instance, distribution addresses to besearched and/or sorted according to characteristics of the gateways withwhich those addresses are associated. Consequently, for instance, asearch can be performed for all IP addresses that are associated withgateways in particular ZIP code, area code, and the like.

Such an association can be made using a variety of methods known tothose skilled in the art, including, for example, establishing adatabase link between the distribution address and the alert gatewaycharacteristics. By way of illustration, a first database may storecharacteristics for a particular gateway in a record indexed by thephysical address of the gateway, while a second database may containdistribution addresses. Thus, associating a distribution address withgateway characteristics can include establishing a relational linkbetween the particular distribution address in the second database and aparticular physical address in the first database.

Other methods of association are possible as well. By way of example, arecord for a particular gateway may contain fields for characteristicsof that gateway as well as a field for a logical address of thatgateway, such that associating the distribution address with the gatewaycharacteristics can include populating the logical address field forthat record with a distribution address of that particular gateway.Alternatively, if a first database stores logical addressinginformation, each record in that database can include not only thelogical address by a physical address as well, and that physical addresscan correspond to a physical address in a second database containingother gateway characteristics.

In some cases, particularly those cases in which distribution addressesare assigned via a dynamic addressing scheme, such as one of thosediscussed above, the association between the distribution address andthe gateway characteristics can be refreshed (block 620), eitherperiodically, on demand, and/or in response to particular events, suchas the registration of a new gateway. In some embodiments, the systemcan be configured to periodically check a host table, DHCP database,and/or the like to determine a physical address associated with aparticular distribution address and thereafter to refresh a databaserecord associated with that physical address with the logical addressinformation obtained from that data source. For example, registration ofa new DHCP client (or re-registration/refreshing of an existing DHCPlease) can trigger a search for a physical address in the databaseassociated with that DHCP client and update a record associated withthat address with a new IP address obtained through the DHCP process. Inother embodiments (such as, for instance, embodiments in which logicaladdresses are maintained on a static basis), it may not be necessary torefresh the association automatically, and associations can be createdand/or maintained in an alternative fashion, such as enteringinformation manually on a database front end, to allow that informationto be updated in the databases as needed.

At block 624, an alert message is received. Receiving an alert messagecan comprise any of the like procedures described above. In response tothe alert message, a set of one or more selection criteria can bedetermined (block 628). In some cases, selection criteria can be basedon the nature of the alert message. For instance, if the alert messagespecifies that it applies particularly to a certain geographicallocation such as an area code, ZIP code or the like, one selectioncriterion can be that all alert gateways to receive the message residewithin that geographical location. In another embodiments, selectioncriteria can relate to characteristics of an alert gateway. Merely byway of example, if a pollution alert is received, a selection criterioncan include all gateways associated with subscribers who have expresseda preference for receiving pollution and/or allergy-related information.Those skilled in the art will appreciate, based on the disclosureherein, that a variety of selection criteria can be established based ondifferent characteristics of a given alert message. Moreover, althoughcertain embodiments of the invention are described herein as relating tothe distribution of urgent public information, those skilled in the artcan appreciate that other embodiments of the invention are not solimited and can provide systems and methods for selectively distributingany variety of information in accordance with a subscriber'spreferences. Thus, a subscriber may indicate via preferences (which canbe maintained by the subscriber and/or provider at the gateway—andoptionally uploaded to an alert distribution device—and/or maintained bythe subscriber/provider at the distribution device) that the subscriberwould like to receive alerts related to certain securities, movieshowtimes, etc., and these preferences can be stored as gatewaycharacteristics, which then can be searched by appropriate selectioncriteria.

At block 632, a database can be searched for gateways meeting withselection criteria. Merely by way of example, if an alert applies onlyto a specific geographic area, the database can be searched for allgateways located within that geographic area. The distribution addressesassociated with gateways can included in the search results can beidentified as addresses to which an alert should be sent (block 636).Those addresses can be compiled (either implicitly or explicitly) intothe set of distribution addresses to receive the alert (block 640), andthe alert message then can be transmitted to the identified distributionaddresses, perhaps using one of the methods discussed above (block 644).

While the functions discussed with respect to the methods illustrated inFIGS. 5A, 5B and 6 have been described generally with respect to alertdistribution devices and alert gateways, it should be recognized thatthese functions often can be performed by specific structures withinthese devices. For instance, based on the disclosure herein, one skilledin the art will appreciate that a processor executing instructions fromappropriate software, perhaps in conjunction an interface, can performthese functions. As discussed above, however, the methods of theinvention are not limited to any particular structural embodiments.

In conclusion, the present invention provides novel systems and methodsfor determining a set of distribution addresses that should receiveparticular urgent public information and for distributing thatinformation. While detailed descriptions of one or more embodiments ofthe invention have been given above, various alternatives,modifications, and equivalents will be apparent to those skilled in theart without varying from the spirit of the invention. Therefore, theabove description should not be taken as limiting the scope of theinvention, which is defined by the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. In a relationship between a telecommunicationprovider and a plurality of subscribers, an alert distribution devicefor determining an appropriate set of addresses to which to distributean alert, the device comprising: at least one interface in communicationwith a communication network; a processor in communication with the atleast one interface; and a non-transitory storage medium incommunication with the processor, the storage medium comprisinginstructions executable by the processor to: access a directory of alertgateways, the directory comprising a plurality of directory entries,each directory entry being associated with a particular alert gatewayand comprising at least one gateway characteristic and a distributionaddress associated with that alert gateway, the gateway characteristicincluding information to enable the alert distribution device todetermine whether a given alert should be transmitted to the alertgateway; receive, via the at least one interface, an alert communicatingurgent public information, the alert describing an event and comprising:alert information including information about the alert itself; andevent information including specific details about the event; identify,based on the event information, a set of selection criteria fordetermining which of the plurality of alert gateways should receive thealert; search the directory for at least one directory entry comprisinga gateway characteristic corresponding to the identified selectioncriteria; identify, based on the search, a set of at least onedistribution address that should receive the alert from among aplurality of distribution addresses each associated with one of thealert gateways, each member of the set of at least one distributionaddress being associated with a directory entry comprising a gatewaycharacteristic that corresponds to the identified selection criteria;and transmit the alert to be received by a set of alert gateways, eachmember of the set of alert gateways being associated with a member ofthe set of at least one distribution address.
 2. The device of claim 1,wherein the at least one gateway characteristic associated with each ofthe alert gateways comprises information about the geographic locationof the alert gateway.
 3. The device of claim 2, wherein the eventinformation comprises a location of the event, such that subscribersoutside a geographic area near the event would be relatively unlikely tobe interested in receiving the alert.
 4. The device of claim 1, whereinthe at least one gateway characteristic associated with an alert gatewaycomprises information selected from the group consisting of an area codein which the alert gateway is located, a ZIP code in which the alertgateway is located, the latitude and longitude coordinates of the alertgateway, the Global Positioning System coordinates of the alert gateway,demographic information about a subscriber associated with the alertgateway, and information about subscriber preferences held by asubscriber associated with the alert gateway.
 5. The device of claim 1,wherein the urgent public information is selected from a groupconsisting of an Emergency Alert System transmission, an Amber Alert, asevere weather notification, and a Homeland Security Advisorynotification.
 6. The device of claim 1, wherein the event information isincorporated within the alert.
 7. The device of claim 6, wherein thestorage medium comprises further instructions executable by theprocessor to extract from the alert the event information.
 8. The deviceof claim 1, wherein the alert information is additional to the alert. 9.The device of claim 1, wherein the communication network is selectedfrom a group consisting of a radio-frequency transmission, a telephonenetwork, a cable television distribution network, the Internet, afiber-optic network, a high-speed data network, a wireless network, anda microwave network.
 10. The device of claim 1, wherein thecommunication network is a plurality of communication networks andwherein, for a particular distribution address, the device is configuredto select the most appropriate communication network via which totransmit the alert information to the particular distribution address.11. In a relationship between a telecommunication provider and aplurality of subscribers, a method for determining an appropriate set ofaddresses to which to distribute an alert, the method comprising:accessing, with a computer, a directory of alert gateways, the directorycomprising a plurality of directory entries, each directory entry beingassociated with a particular alert gateway and comprising at least onegateway characteristic and a distribution address associated with thatalert gateway, the gateway characteristic including information toenable the alert distribution device to determine whether a given alertshould be transmitted to the alert gateway; receiving, at the computer,an alert communicating urgent public information, the alert describingan event and comprising: alert information including information aboutthe alert itself; and event information including specific details aboutthe event; identifying, with the computer, based on the eventinformation, a set of selection criteria for determining which of theplurality of alert gateways should receive the alert; searching thedirectory, with the computer, for at least one directory entrycomprising a gateway characteristic corresponding to the identifiedselection criteria; and identifying, with the computer, based on thesearch, a set of at least one distribution address that should receivethe alert from among a plurality of distribution addresses eachassociated with one of the alert gateways, each member of the set of atleast one distribution address being associated with a directory entrycomprising a gateway characteristic that corresponds to the identifiedselection criteria; and transmitting the alert to be received by a setof alert gateways, each member of the set of alert gateways beingassociated with a member of the set of at least one distributionaddress.
 12. The method of claim 11, wherein the at least one gatewaycharacteristic associated with each of the alert gateways comprisesinformation about the geographic location of the alert gateway.
 13. Themethod of claim 12, wherein the event information comprises a locationof the event, such that subscribers outside a geographic area near theevent would be relatively unlikely to be interested in receiving thealert.
 14. The method of claim 15, wherein the at least one gatewaycharacteristic associated with an alert gateway comprises informationselected from the group consisting of an area code in which the alertgateway is located, a ZIP code in which the alert gateway is located,the latitude and longitude coordinates of the alert gateway, the GlobalPositioning System coordinates of the alert gateway, demographicinformation about a subscriber associated with the alert gateway, andinformation about subscriber preferences held by a subscriber associatedwith the alert gateway.
 15. The method of claim 11, wherein the urgentpublic information is selected from a group consisting of an EmergencyAlert System transmission, an Amber Alert, a severe weathernotification, and a Homeland Security Advisory notification.
 16. Themethod of claim 11, wherein the event information alert is incorporatedwithin the alert.
 17. The method of claim 16, further comprisingextracting from the alert the information about the alert.
 18. Themethod of claim 11, wherein the alert information is additional to thealert.
 19. The method of claim 11, further comprising: analyzing, withat least member of the set of alert gateways, at least one of the eventinformation or the alert information to determine the urgency of thealert and to determine to which of the two or more different types ofsubscriber equipment to provide the alert as a function of the urgencyof the alert.
 20. In a relationship between a telecommunication providerand a plurality of subscribers, a system for distributing an alert to anappropriate set of subscribers, the system comprising: a plurality ofalert gateways configured to receive an alert, each of the plurality ofalert gateways being associated with at least one subscriber; acommunication network in communication with the plurality of alertgateways; and an alert distribution device in communication with thecommunication network, the alert distribution device comprising: atleast one interface in communication with the network; a processor incommunication with the at least one interface; and a storage medium incommunication with the processor, the storage medium comprisinginstructions executable by the processor to: access a directory of alertgateways, the directory comprising a plurality of directory entries,each directory entry being associated with a particular alert gatewayand comprising at least one gateway characteristic and a distributionaddress associated with that alert gateway, the gateway characteristicincluding information to enable the alert distribution device todetermine whether a given alert should be transmitted to the alertgateway; receive, via the at least one interface, an alert communicatingurgent public information, the alert describing an event and comprising:alert information including information about the alert itself; andevent information including specific details about the event; identify,based on the event information, a set of selection criteria fordetermining which of the plurality of alert gateways should receive thealert; search the directory for at least one directory entry comprisinga gateway characteristic corresponding to the identified selectioncriteria; and identify, based on the search, a set of at least onedistribution address that should receive the alert from among aplurality of distribution addresses each associated with one of thealert gateways, each member of the set of at least one distributionaddress being associated with a directory entry comprising a gatewaycharacteristic that corresponds to the identified selection criteria.using the at least one interface, transmit the alert via the network toa set of alert gateways, each member of the set of alert gateways beingassociated with a member of the set of at least one distributionaddress; wherein each alert gateway of the set of alert gateways is incommunication with two or more different types of subscriber equipment,and is configured to analyze at least one of the event information orthe alert information to determine the urgency of the alert and todetermine to which of the two or more different types of subscriberequipment to provide the alert as a function of the urgency of thealert.